MegaHouse has released a number of figures of characters from Space Battleship Yamato 2199, and we’ll be looking at one of them today. Yuria was the third figure to be released in the Yamato Girls Collection series, and she is undoubtedly the easiest of them to procure, being that she went for around 2000 yen at Amiami and she’s still very cheap. I have to admit that the huge price cut she received colored my opinion of this figure to some extent, but having taken her out of her box, she really doesn’t look that bad and I’m not entirely sure why she got such a severe discount. At any rate, let’s take a look at her.
I haven’t yet seen Space Battleship Yamato 2199; I’ve been waiting for a US localization and I recall hearing that it would receive one, under the new (or old) name Star Blazers 2199. Their online ordering system seems to be nonfunctional right now, which is curious. Hopefully they get it working soon; I grew up watching space opera shows like Robotech (and Western shows like Star Trek) so I’d like to see it someday.
Yuria is an eager young space cadet assigned to the titular spaceship. As far as I can tell, she’s a relatively minor supporting character but she seems to have been popular enough to merit a figure. Looking at the other figures in the lineup, it appears that MegaHouse and Alpha Omega wished to produce products that appeal to specific tastes; Yuki Mori has sort of the friendly girl-next-door look, Akira Yamamoto radiates cool confidence, and Kaoru Nimii has that sexy office lady vibe. Yuria will obviously appeal to those who like their spaceship crew looking younger.
This figure is manufactured by MegaHouse in 1/8 scale. Yuria stands about 20.5 centimeters tall; despite her youthful body proportions, this is a decent-sized figure for its scale. Like many MegaHouse figures, she comes with a ton of accessories, and we’ll look at them in a bit. Also typical for a MegaHouse figure, she doesn’t come with an instruction sheet but she doesn’t really need one.
Being that many of the Yamato characters are military personnel, it’s no surprise that most of the other figures in this series feature calm or stoic expressions. Yuria deviates from this pattern as she’s portrayed with one leg up, hand and arm cocked in a cute variation of a salute (I’d be curious to know whether anyone can replicate this salute; I cannot bend my little finger like this without bending my ring finger too). She’s also flashing a huge, wide-eyed smile, giving this figure an evident sense of liveliness.
Yuria wears the same sort of uniform as her colleagues: a skin-tight bodysuit with black accents and straps. She’s more petite than the other characters but her jumpsuit still looks very attractive.
Having not seen the show, I’m not sure how much of a role fanservice plays in its presentation, but it’s obvious that it plays a factor in the design of the Yamato 2199 figures; Akira’s figure shows off a lot of cleavage and Kaoru’s pose deliberately focuses attention squarely on her ass. Yuria’s pose isn’t nearly as sexualized, but I think the strong arch of her back is quite attractive, particularly in the way it emphasizes her slender waist.
Whenever a character is squeezed into a suit like this, the backside is going to be a point of interest. Yuria’s ass isn’t as large as Kaoru’s or as prominent as it is on that upcoming Yuki Mori figure, but it still looks nice. The way the straps curve around the buttocks is very neat.
Yuria’s left hand and right arm are detachable, making possible some different poses. Aside from her empty left hand, she also comes with this one, which is clutching a teddy bear.
It’s a cute teddy bear, though it doesn’t look too happy.
She has one more left hand, this one holding a bottle of water.
Yep, it’s a water bottle, alright.
Her right arm detaches at the shoulder; it can be swapped out for this alternative arm, which ineffectively clutches a sheaf of paper.
It’s pretty neat how well this arm fits her shoulder despite being positioned very differently from her default arm.
It also makes for a rather different-looking figure, as she looks rather less playful and less young.
All in all, I’d say this is a fine figure, though I do have huge regrets about buying it, being that I paid full price. It’s a little annoying to see that sort of thing happen, though I suppose it was more annoying with figures like Good Smile Company’s Black Rock Shooter and jumping Saber. Irrespective of her pricing fluctuations, she looks quite nice; she has a pleasing appearance, her uniform is quite sexy, and she has a variety of display modes. It would’ve been nice to have saved some money but otherwise, I’m happy to have Yuria in my collection.
